Aromatic amino acids Claisen rearrangement

The Shikimate pathway is responsible for biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids in bacteria, fungi and plants [28], and the absence of this pathway in mammals makes it an interesting target for designing novel antibiotics, fungicides and herbicides. After the production of chorismate the pathway branches and, via specific internal pathways, the chorismate intermediate is converted to the three aromatic amino acids, in addition to a number of other aromatic compounds [29], The enzyme chorismate mutase (CM) is a key enzyme responsible for the Claisen rearrangement of chorismate to prephenate (Scheme 1-1), the first step in the branch that ultimately leads to production of tyrosine and phenylalanine. 

Chorismate mutase (CM) catalyzes the Claisen rearrangement of chorismate to prephenate in the shikimic acid pathway used in the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids. It represents a reference enzyme to explore the fundamentals of catalysis and has been the subject of extensive experimental and computational research. These have shown both that catalysis proceeds without covalent binding of the substrate to the enzyme, and that the uncatalyzed reaction in water proceeds by the same mechanism. This makes CM a particularly convenient target for QM/MM studies. 

The conversion of chorismate into prephenate is an example of a biologically relevant Claisen rearrangement. It is the key intermediate in the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids (tyrosine, phenylalanine, and tryptophan) in bacteria, fungi, and higher plants (Figure 1.23) [23]. 

Chorismic acid is the key branch point intermediate in the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids in microorganisms and plants (Scheme 1.1a) [1]. In the branch that leads to the production of tyrosine and phenylalanine, chorismate mutase (CM, chorismate-pyruvate mutase, EC 5.4.99.5) is a key enzyme that catalyzes the isomerization of chorismate to prephenate (Scheme 1.1b) with a rate enhancement of about lO -lO -fold. This reaction is one of few pericyclic processes in biology and provides a rare opportunity for understanding how Nature promotes such unusual transformations. The biological importance of the conversion from chorismate to prephenate and the synthetic value of the Claisen rearrangement have led to extensive experimental investigations [2-43]. 

The rearrangement of 122 to 123 is a key reaction along the shikimate biosynthetic pathway for generating aromatic amino acids in plant, fungal, and bacterial systems, and it is catalyzed by the enzyme chorismate mutase more than a millionfold. This has stimulated an in-depth investigation of the mechanism of the Claisen rearrangement. ... 

A thio-Claisen rearrangement174 was used for the regioselective synthesis of thiopyrano[2,3-b]pyran-2-ones and thieno[2,3-b]pyran-2-ones (Eq. 12.76). A convenient method for the aromatic amino-Claisen rearrangement of N-(l,l-disubstituted-allyl)anilines led to the 2-allylanilines being produced cleanly and in high yield by using a catalytic amount of p-toluenesulfonic acid in acetonitrile/water (Eq. 12.77).175... 

Another powerful approach to prepare a-amino acids bearing an aromatic or unsaturated side chain in /I (but also many other compounds) is based on the reactivity of 5-fluoro-4-trifluoromethyloxazole, a starting material easily accessible from hexafluoroacetone. The fluorine atom in the 5 position is easily displaced by an allylic or benzylic alcohol. Then, the obtained ethers spontaneously undergo a Claisen rearrangement to afford, after acidic hydrolysis, an a-trifluoromethyl amino acid... 

An aromatic Claisen rearrangement has been used as a key step in a total synthesis of racemic heliannuols C and E.18 A formal synthesis of (-)-perhydrohistrionicotoxin has used Claisen rearrangement of an amino acid ester enolate as the key step, in which almost total chirality transfer was observed from (S, )-oct-3-en-2-ol in the sense predicted by a chair-shaped transition state with chelation control of enolate geometry.19 Treatment of 1-(cyclohex-l-enyl)-6-methoxy-2-propargylindanol derivatives with base... 

An elegant and efficient synthesis of 6,11-dihydro-ll-ethyl-57/-dibenz[6,c]azepine derivatives 53 has been described which involves a BFs-catalysed aromatic amino-Claisen rearrangement of 51a-d to 52a-d followed by an intramolecular alkene Friedel-Crafts alkylation (acid catalysed) to access the 7-membered ring in 53 in high yield. With the amino-Claisen rearrangement of 51e, an inseparable mixture of 54e and 54e was obtained, since in this case both ortho positions in 56 are free for the rearrangement <04SL2721>. 

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